Error 10054 And Other Chat Fun

[[DE]Glen]

Over the last two days I’ve spent some time working with some loyal Tenno to try to figure out why some of you cannot connect to our in-game chat system; several users were kind enough to run all kinds of tests for me and the results were as fascinating as they were vindicating. In short, both users had problems of their own that had nothing do to with Warframe. The only common link seemed to be that they had similar routers and our QA staff have started to use similar hardware to see if they can reproduce the same problem in their lab.

Here’s what we tried; I’d encourage anyone having chat server issues to run these same tests and report back with their findings.

First, download and install mIRC from http://www.mirc.com/

Install OpenSSL for mIRC as described here http://www.mirc.com/ssl.html (0.9.8y is fine).

1) Connect to an UnrealIRCd server with mIRC

For our testing we used irc.unrealircd.com and both testers found their connection to this server would drop after only a few minutes; this implies that the game client is not likely causing problems because mIRC has the same problems (and I’ll be the first to admit that mIRC’s chat code is far, far superior to our chat code).

2) Connect to a server running different software

For our testing we used irc.chatspike.net and again, both testers would lose connection with error 10054 just like Warframe; this implies that the server software we’re using is not likely causing problems because a competing server running different software has the same problem.

3) Connect to a server via an encrypted connection

For our testing we used irc.freenode.net:+7000 and this time we saw wildly variable results; in one case the connection stayed up for 9 hours without dropping but then later it would fail the same as unencrypted connections. The interesting thing about this is that if SSL-secured IRC connections are robust when unsecured connections fail it might imply that some form of internet security software is dropping IRC connections based on the assumption that they’re coming from compromised PCs trying to register with a bot-net.

We also tried a few things on one of the Tenno’s PC and router:

a) Checked router for latest firmware updates

b) Disabled firewall and anti-virus software

c) Disabled Stateful Packet Inspection on the router (a form of firewall)

d) Disabled Quality of Service (QoS) engine on the router

None of these things helped (he repeated tests 1 and 2 afterwards and still had the problems).

Finally I contacted the technical support staff for the internet service provider for the first user; I couldn’t call by telephone without his account credentials but I was able to contract their online-chat help service. Unfortunately the support staff operating the chat were not able to help and eventually advised the customer to contact them directly.

There are two other interesting clues we have picked up from other users:

1) One user was able to connect to chat perfectly fine if he first made a VPN connection to somewhere else (ie: in some ways bypassing his router and his ISP)

2) Another user’s problems went away when he upgraded the firmware on his router.

At this point the case is not closed but it has fallen a few notches down my TODO-list since at this point I have nothing but evidence that the problem isn’t something I can fix myself. Hopefully we’ll get some test results posted to this thread that give us more clues, though.

If you do run the tests above and report your findings it might help if you could also list your router make & model (and firmware version if you have access to that). Thanks!

PS: Thanks again to pyroxide and Knayen for going through the tests with me.

[Norro]

Could the aforementioned problems be related with many players sometimes not being able to join/invite their friends?

[[DE]Glen]

Could the aforementioned problems be related with many players sometimes not being able to join/invite their friends?

It's not likely but anything is possible.

[[DE]Glen]

Update: so far we've found 2 people with D-Link DIR-615 routers having problems; we're arranging to get one into our lab to test with.

[Fiia]

DE_Glen, I am a third person that cannot connect to WF chat ever; I have been in contact with DERebecca and she has been letting me know work is being done on this issue.

I am not in the same boat as the others, but seem to have it worse as I have never once been able to connect to the chat, so I cannot send or see any text that is typed.

I do not use a D-Link router.  In fact I do not have a router at all.

As I informed DERebecca, my connection runs from my cable modem to my Vonage telephone box, to my computer.

I would really like to have a solution to this as it has been a real bummer to never yet talk in WF.

Please, please, put this back up a notch on your todo list so I do not feel like WF is going to be over for me if I never get to talk in the game.

Thank you.

EDIT:

I spent a little time trying different cables bypassing my Vonage box.

The end result is when I go directly from my cable modem to my computer WF chat works like a charm (my first time ever seeing the chat and it was nice!).

As soon as I hook up my Vonage box so I have a phone line, I receive the 10054 error again.

DE_Glen, can you look into this as it is rather hard to believe I am the single Vonage user on WF!

Thanks again.

Edited June 7, 2013 by Fiia

[GBTW]

Having the same issue but it doesnt seem to be my connection.

I'm also on a router but its ports are all open and I can connect perfectly to those IRC servers.

 

I tried connecting to the warframe IRC server directly and the connection goes through, all I get is the expected authentication failure.

 

So I decided to check out what was happening with Wireshark.

The IRC server is replying "GBTW: Nickname is already in use", so it seems my ghost is still there from a previous connection and its not being killed when I login. Logged out and waited 15 mins to give it some time to timeout and got the same error, ghost still there.

 

Could this be the source of the error?

Edited June 8, 2013 by GBTW

[Zhoyzu]

oh no i've caught this malicious disease myself 

[Sherbniz]

I've run some tests of myself as well, and I think I've narrowed it down to my connection/router.

Using the connection at home yields 10054 regardless of what I tried (DMZ, open ports, UDP,...), but when I brought the laptop I used to test it downstairs to another connection (different provider too, but I know others with the same provider who have no problems) it worked fine (EVEN with strict NAT messages, un-fowarded ports, nothing done at all).

[Sherbniz]

I've run some tests of myself as well, and I think I've narrowed it down to my connection/router.

Using the connection at home yields 10054 regardless of what I tried (DMZ, open ports, UDP,...), but when I brought the laptop I used to test it downstairs to another connection (different provider too, but I know others with the same provider who have no problems) it worked fine (EVEN with strict NAT messages, un-fowarded ports, nothing done at all).

I just did the tests you suggested, and my results are following:

1) Connect to an UnrealIRCd server with mIRC

Works fine, however I noticed this:

And I heard about NAT creating problems with ident, and that some servers might refuse connections if they cannot achieve ident.

Staying connected, however.

2) Connect to a server running different software

I can also successfully connect to irc.chatspike.com, and don't get disconnected!

3) Connect to a server via an encrypted connection

Yes this DID infact conjure the Error 10054!

* Connect retry #3 irc.freenode.net (7000) (dns pool)-* [10053] Software caused connection abort

Didn't know it would happen in IRC as well!

Did a quick search and found this:

http://forums.mirc.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/37425/10053_error_software_caused_co

Edit:

Referencing this list of ports on freenode servers:

All freenode servers listen on ports 6665, 6666, 6667, 6697 (SSL only), 7000 (SSL only), 7070 (SSL only), 8000, 8001 and 8002.

I tried different ports to see if it was related to a port blockage by my provider.

All non-ssl ports work. The moment I use SSL I get the Error 10053.

(Which is strange because in Warframe I get plagued by Error 10054)

I will look into some of those proposed fixes you posted, and those listed in this thread!

Thanks for the hard work, I'll keep you updated if I manage to fix it or anything. :)

Edited June 10, 2013 by Sherbniz

[Snowbrush]

I started playing Warframe a couple weeks ago and I also had chat issues. I didn't have 10054 though, I had 10053. I'm not sure if there's a difference but I have a very strange story about the things that have happened since that time.

 

I, at first, didn't even know there was a chat because I had never been able to connect. I assumed it was just something that was being worked on still. Beta is beta. Sadly, my brother told me that he has never had a problem at all with chat and we have very similar computers (I built his and mine). The only difference is he has Verizon Fios and I have awful, terrible Time Warner.  So I continued playing for a week or so, enjoying the gameplay but missing the player interactions. I finally got fed up with it and decided to troubleshoot. I did literally everything in the book to fix this issue. I upgraded all kinds of firmwares, opened every single port in the world, went through every option in my router multiple times. Nothing worked. Out of options, I called Time Warner and threatened to leave them if they didn't give me the best router they had, and surprisingly, they did. 

 

Well, kind of. It's a Ubee DDW3611 router which is the best they have but in the world of routers its comparable to a crazy homeless guy. I picked it up, installed it, and boom, I was chatting it up with other Tenno. I had never been so happy in my life to actually see chat spam. It was great. So I chalked up the problem to having an outdated router (another of the Ubee family). 

 

Three days went by and everything was fine but then suddenly, my router restarted for no reason. I lost my connection and decided to restart Warframe after getting my connection back. And that's right about the time I began crying. Chat was broken again. The same 10053 error that I had started with returned to ruin my fun. Since then I have factory reset my router multiple times, did a full power cycle, fiddled with every option in the router menus, opened all the ports again, all the same things I did before and still, I have no chat.

 

At this point, I'm really out of answers. The only thing I have left to try (aside from switching to Fios) is to put my crap Ubee router in bridge mode and buy a real brand like Linksys or D-Link and see if that works. If it doesn't, then I really don't know. I did all of the tests you listed above and have had 0 problems connecting and staying connected which only complicates this whole thing more. I don't usually post on the forums but I thought my story might help you find the problem. Or maybe it will just confuse you more, lol, I'm not sure. Good luck with your testing!

[Sherbniz]

Update: Alright!

I tried a suggestion to fix 10053 errors I read on the mIRC forum, which involved port forwarding Port 113, which is responsible for ident on IRC.

It didn't fix the 10053, or the 10054 in Warframe, but it changed at least something in mIRC...

So ident now reaches me and gets accepted, but the SSL connection probably still doesn't work.

Edit: To explain the funky shapes in stead of my adress, I censored it since it displays of privacy concerns!

Edit #2: Tried to adjust my MTU, since according to some sources, it could be another reason for these errors. It did not help, sadly.

I just want to point out that if you need any more test subjects/assistance with figuring this out, I'd be more than glad to help!

Edited June 10, 2013 by Sherbniz

[AceTightPants]

Good to know I'm not the only one having this issue. My situation is that I live in an on-campus apartment and plug directly into the ethernet port provided. I don't have any other issues (that I'm aware of) in any other games that I play. My friend and I confirmed it must have something to do with my school connection because the same thing happens to him when he brings his computer over to play. 

 

Edit: My error code is 10060 

Edited June 10, 2013 by AceTightPants

[Friden666]

Yea it's good to know I'm not the only one with the problem.. Now my chat doesn't work.. i restarted my rooter but it was useless, sometimes I connect to the chat sometimes i don't. Past week i could chat normally and since yesterday again the same story. Please if you could fix this issue somehow i would really appreciate it.

''Failed to connect to chat server: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host. ERROR 10054''

If i find a way to fix it I'll let you know, thank you. 

[Melonade]

Alright, as someone who has never seen text chat in this game despite voice chat working fine, I decided to try these steps. Trying to connect to irc.unrealircd.com/ or irc.chatspike.net/ just gave me Unable to resolve server. I have no problems at all with irc.freenode.net:+7000/ or my clan's IRC chat room that I use to talk to them due to the game's chat not working. I've got a Netgear CGD24G from Time Warner, I use no firewall and all the ports mentioned in this thread are open. The firmware does not appear to be upgradeable due to it being from the ISP. Is there anything else I can try that might help? Oh, and my in-game error is always 10054.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Melonade

[Sherbniz]

Edit: I just tried another client, and it seems I just made a mistake installing OpenSSL to mIRC which caused the Error 10053, since it works now!

(Used Pidgin IM)

So I'm down to being able to connect to all the IRC Servers listed, except the Warframe IRC over my home connection.

Sadly can't update the Firmware of my Router-Modem, since that is controlled by the ISP.

[Krjal]

Oh, wow, didn't realise this was being discussed (finally :p).

 

While I put this in the ticket from 2 1/2 months ago I might as well share here. My chat was working perfectly until Update 7.4 which included chat 'improvements'. Ever since I've only had error 10053.

 

Even though it's likely my router/modem with the problem it's more than a little irritating to know that the system is capable of working with my router and did in the past.

 

I'm running a Netgear CVG824g. It's a terrible cable modem 'gateway' (includes a router) from Optus. Because of the duopoly on cable net in Australia they lock down pretty much everything about their modems. I can't update the firmware or even put it in bridge mode to use a proper router. I have tried connecting with my PC in a DMZ and all the firewall features turned off but just as others found out, this doesn't do much. I did manage a 10054 at one point though :p

 

Oh, I have no problem with mIRC (also ThrashIRC and more recently MetroIRC). Been using it for years which is one of the reasons it took me so long to believe it was my router with this particular issue.

 

Don't suppose there's much chance of rolling back chat changes to 7.3 state huh?

 

In the mean time I'm looking to kick my ISP and go to the other equally bad one. Hopefully they've got a better cable modem though.

 

edit. Noticed Melonade is using a related modem/router to mine. Maybe something Netgear can help with then?

 

moar edit. A little while back I found this thread about IRC issues with recv 10053, the user found a solution somehow. http://www.pchelpforum.com/xf/threads/mirc-10053-software-caused-connection-abort.113600/#post-685051

Seems like it might be using some built in mIRC features though. No idea if it could apply to Warframe irc but the guy did say it was a problem with his 'dlink', presumably a router or modem.

Edited June 12, 2013 by Krjal

[[DE]Glen]

A few updates on this issue:

1) We've experimented at painful length with the D-Link DIR-615 and *nothing* we can do either with the router or with our software can prevent it from randomly disconnecting. The fact that this piece of garbage malfunctions even when it's on the same LAN as the chat server is quite discouraging.

2) A user with a D-Link DIR-632 that was helping diagnose this problem eventually gave up and installed DD-WRT open-firmware. It seems to have fixed all his problems. I can't officially endorse this option but can say that I also run DD-WRT on my home router and have no networking issues.

3) There is one change that went in sometime around update 7.3 specifically to try to fix this problem; on the off chance that this is causing problem that I will disable for the next hotfix. If you're curious look up Nagle's algorithm (chat servers often disable Nagle to reduce chat lag so tried to do the same). Note that we tested the DIR-615 still failed even with Nagle enabled so it's not likely to miraculously solve all your problems.

Other items:

1) Identd doesn't matter for Warframe. It might for some public IRC servers but it's a dinosaur that is mostly irrelevant. Don't worry about it.

2) 10053/10054 are essentially the same. The former means your PC gave up on the connection, the latter means something between you and the remote PC gave up and closed it.

3) 10060 is connection timeout and could indicate a firewall is blocking the connection.

4) Some people have suggested that increasing the built-in ping frequency would help (presumably to keep idle connections alive). We tried this; default was 3 minutes and I increased it to once every minute on the live server but it made no difference.

5) You don't have to forward any ports at all for chat. It's a TCP connection initiated from inside your NAT so there shouldn't be any NAT punch-through required.

[Sherbniz]

2) A user with a D-Link DIR-632 that was helping diagnose this problem eventually gave up and installed DD-WRT open-firmware. It seems to have fixed all his problems. I can't officially endorse this option but can say that I also run DD-WRT on my home router and have no networking issues.

Heh, wish I could say that's an option on my modem-router, but my cable company handles firmware remotely, can't and probably shouldn't much about with that. x~x

DDWrt is most likely superior to what firmware is running on here right now...

I could see if I can have this modem replaced with a custom or different one from their selection however.

3) There is one change that went in sometime around update 7.3 specifically to try to fix this problem; on the off chance that this is causing problem that I will disable for the next hotfix. If you're curious look up Nagle's algorithm (chat servers often disable Nagle to reduce chat lag so tried to do the same). Note that we tested the DIR-615 still failed even with Nagle enabled so it's not likely to miraculously solve all your problems.

7.3? that was "March 25th, 2013" and I started having problems just around that time.

Could be it?

1) Identd doesn't matter for Warframe. It might for some public IRC servers but it's a dinosaur that is mostly irrelevant. Don't worry about it.

Alright, I just tried anything, since I've been out of ideas!

[Fiia]

DE_Glen, would you please take a look at my problem as has nothing to do with a router.

It is directly related to my Vonage box.

If I run WF without my telephone the chat works fine, but as soon as I connect to my Voanage box so I have a phone line the chat breaks and I receive the 10054 error.

Would you please look into the configuration of the Voange box so you might tell me what to do that may work.

Vonage box can be configured at v-configure

Please, look into this as not being able to chat since April of this year (nearly 3 months now) is rather discouraging.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Fiia

[Krjal]

Thanks for the update, Glen! It really is appreciated.

 

Looking at a few of the routers mentioned here, is it possible this has something to do with MTA or eMTA? At least some of the cable modem/routers mentioned here handle MTA (Including your 'Vonage' box, Fiia ;) ). I'm not familiar with all of them but it could be a common thread.

[[DE]Glen]

Fiia, on 12 Jun 2013 - 8:14 PM, said:

DE_Glen, would you please take a look at my problem as has nothing to do with a router.

It is directly related to my Vonage box.

I'm sorry but you'll have to take this up with Vonage.

[Sherbniz]

Thanks for the update, Glen! It really is appreciated.

 

Looking at a few of the routers mentioned here, is it possible this has something to do with MTA or eMTA? At least some of the cable modem/routers mentioned here handle MTA (Including your 'Vonage' box, Fiia ;) ). I'm not familiar with all of them but it could be a common thread.

I've also started tinkering with my MTA MTU (sorry for confusing the two!), got it set to the optimum ammount of 1472+28(header)=1500, works fine with pretty much anything so far...

Edited June 14, 2013 by Sherbniz

[Krjal]

I've also started tinkering with my MTA, got it set to the optimum ammount of 1472+28(header)=1500, works fine with pretty much anything so far...

Oh, my bad. I should've made it more clear. I meant MTA as Multimedia Terminal Adaptor. That's the integrated phone line in cable modems. I was wondering if it was somehow interfering or if one of the IRC fixes was being misinterpreted by modems with MTA.

I think you're talking about MTUs? Maximum Transmit Units?

Edit. I did try messing with my MTUs as well but it didn't do anything to the 10053 error.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Krjal

[Fiia]

I'm sorry but you'll have to take this up with Vonage.

That's it, after waiting months for the chat to work you throw it on Vonage to figure out how to make it work with your game?

How I am suppose to do that? What do I say to them make it work on your end?

With all due respect, this seems an easy way out of a chat system that clearly has issue with multiple people.

It feels like, since I am only one person and it would take too much time to look into the easy way out is to say we cannot help you call Vonage.

So, to be clear, I can expect zero help from Warframe support in order to sort out my chat not working in Warframe?

[GBTW]

Having the same issue but it doesnt seem to be my connection.

I'm also on a router but its ports are all open and I can connect perfectly to those IRC servers.

 

I tried connecting to the warframe IRC server directly and the connection goes through, all I get is the expected authentication failure.

 

So I decided to check out what was happening with Wireshark.

The IRC server is replying "GBTW: Nickname is already in use", so it seems my ghost is still there from a previous connection and its not being killed when I login. Logged out and waited 15 mins to give it some time to timeout and got the same error, ghost still there.

 

Could this be the source of the error?

 

An update: whatever you did this week fixed it, chat now works flawlessly.

Edited June 13, 2013 by GBTW